SEVENTH PAY COMMISSION LIKELY TO ALLOW WORK FROM HOME FOR DISABLED, WOMEN EMPLOYEES

New Delhi: Seventh pay commission is likely to ask the government to consider allowing disabled and women central government employees to work from home.

The commission may recommend government to ask Information and Technology department, whether it is possible to have systems in place for monitoring and supervising work being done remotely by disabled and women central government employees .

“Allowing disabled and women central government employees a choice in where and how they work can increase employee loyalty and job satisfaction, and the government needs to apply it for a big win to boost their confidence, which will also give the productivity,” said a pay panel official.

The studies revealed those disabled and women employees who have the option of working outside of the office also reported somewhat lower levels of stress and exhaustion. And studies have suggested that employees tend to get higher performance evaluations.

Allowing employees to work away from a government office means increased opportunities for those women and those persons with disabilities. It can also help the environment, as the employees are able to eliminate lengthy commutes.

The work from home filtered into jobs that have little to no stress and minimal travel.

At present, the strength of disabled employees in the total workforce of the central government is 9,339, which constitutes 0.3 per cent of the total staff strength of 29.59 lakh, according to an RTI reply to The Indian Express from the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT).

Women employment under central government has been estimated to the tune of 3.37 lakh, which is 10.93 percent of the total regular central government employment, according to census of central government employees as on March 31, 2011.

“We are looking at whether it is technologically possible to allow disabled and women employees for working from home,” said the official.

“A need was felt to provide work from home facility to persons with disabilities and women to enable them to effectively discharge their duties.,” he added.

The government constitutes the Pay Commission almost every 10 years to revise the pay scale of its employees and often states also implement the panel’s recommendations after some modifications.

Headed by Justice Ashok Kumar Mathur, the four-member Commission was appointed in February 2014 and the commission will hand over its recommendations to government within December 31, 2015.

As part of the exercise, the current Pay Commission holds discussions with various stakeholders, including organisations, federations, groups representing civil employees as well as defence services.

The Sixth Pay Commission was implemented with effect from January 1, 2006, the fifth from January 1, 1996 and the fourth from January 1, 1986. The Seventh Pay Commission will be implemented with effect from January 1, 2016.